Cinderella (2015 film) | Disney Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] Plot Ella (Eloise Webb) lives with her wealthy parents on a beautiful estate in a peaceful kingdom. From a young age, she is taught by her mother ( Hayley Atwell ) to believe in the existence of magic, allowing her to befriend many animals on the estate, particularly the mice . Everything is perfect until her mother contracts an illness and dies. On her deathbed, she makes Ella promise that she will always have courage and show kindness to others. Years later, when Ella ( Lily James ) is a teenager, her father ( Ben Chaplin ) marries Lady Tremaine ( Cate Blanchett ), the widow of an old acquaintance , who has two daughters of her own, Drisella ( Sophie McShera ) and Anastasia ( Holliday Grainger ). Ella welcomes her stepfamily warmly, despite the stepsisters' unpleasant attitudes and her needing to protect her mouse friends from her stepmother's cat, Lucifer . Soon after, Ella's father goes abroad on business, promising his stepdaughters gifts of luxury. His own daughter merely asks for the first branch that brushes against his shoulder on the way.

Sadly, he becomes ill and also dies. This new loss results in Lady Tremaine revealing her true cold, cruel and jealous nature. Taking advantage of Ella's hospitality, she persuades her to give up her room for Drisella and Anastasia, presumably temporarily, while Ella retires to the attic with only her mouse friends to keep her company. Not long after her father's death, Lady Tremaine dismisses the servants, leaving only Ella to do their work. Relegated to nothing more than a servant, she is subjected to cruel mistreatment by her stepmother and stepsisters. She is forbidden to eat with them, and spitefully renamed "Cinderella" after waking covered with soot from the fireplace. Crushed by their cruelty, Ella goes for a ride into the woods, where she encounters a hunting party. She meets one of the hunters ( Richard Madden ), who claims to be an apprentice named Kit who lives in the palace. Unknown to her, he is actually the only son of the land's dying king ( Derek Jacobi ). Despite never learning her name, Kit (a nickname given to him by his father) is enchanted by Ella's charm, kindness, and unique outlook on life and becomes infatuated with her.

Upon learning that he has little time left, the King insists that Kit finds a bride at an upcoming ball. Despite the law saying that he must marry a princess, Kit can't get over the mystery girl, and deals with his father into letting every eligible maiden in the land attend. When the ball is announced, the Tremaine family is ecstatic at the prospect of marrying into royalty. However, when Lady Tremaine refuses to buy Ella a new dress, Ella fixes up an old dress of her mother's with help from the mice. On the night of the ball, Ella tries to join her stepfamily on the way out. But Lady Tremaine, claiming that her mere presence will disgrace them, leads her daughters into ripping up the dress before leaving without her. This seemingly breaks Ella's spirit, and she runs into the garden in tears. She encounters an old beggar woman, who reveals herself to be her Fairy Godmother ( Helena Bonham Carter ). She subsequently turns a pumpkin into a magnificent carriage, four mice into horses, two lizards into footmen, and a goose into a coachman.

She then transforms Ella's dress into a gorgeous blue gown, complete with a delicate pair of glass slippers before sending her on her way with the warning that the spell only lasts until midnight. At the ball, the entire court is entranced by Ella, especially Kit. She wins the coveted first dance with him, whose true identity she's pleasantly surprised to learn. This irritates the Grand Duke ( Stellan Skarsgård ), who secretly promised Kit to a princess — a fact that Lady Tremaine overhears. After dancing, Ella and Kit tour the palace and grounds together, slowly falling in love. But before he can learn her name, the clock strikes 11:59, forcing her to flee and accidentally dropping one of her glass slippers at the palace stairs in the process. She manages to get away before the stroke of midnight and hides the other slipper in her room as a memento. Soon after, the King dies, but not before giving his son permission to find his true love. Once it's announced that every maiden in the kingdom is to try on the slipper, Ella excitedly goes to her room to get the other slipper, only to find her stepmother waiting for her with it in her hand.

Lady Tremaine, having figured out her identity from her attitude after the ball, demands that Ella make her the head of the royal household once she becomes queen. She also demands that Ella ensure Drisella and Anastasia get proper husbands as well. Ella refuses, admitting that she regrets not protecting her father, but that she would protect the Prince no matter what becomes of her, Lady Tremaine smashes the slipper against the wall and locks her in the attic. She then brings the shattered shoe and the identity of the mystery girl to the Grand Duke, and strikes a deal with him in exchange, which would reward her with title of a countess and worthy husbands for her daughters. The Duke takes the shattered shoe to Kit, hoping to convince him to forget the mystery girl, but this makes him even more determined than ever to find his true love. The Grand Duke and the captain of the guards ( Nonso Anozie ) lead a garrison to try the remaining slipper on all the maidens in the land, all of whom are rejected by its magic, before arriving at the Tremaine estate.

When the slipper rejects both stepsisters, they turn to leave, only to hear Ella singing (" Lavender's Blue "), thanks to the mice opening her attic window. The Grand Duke tries to leave anyway, but one of the men reveals himself to be Kit in disguise, and demands that the captain investigate the sound. Once Ella is found, Lady Tremaine tries to forbid her from trying on the shoe, but is overruled by the Captain, who defends her. Ella curtly tells Lady Tremaine that she is not and never will be her mother before leaving the attic. She and Kit are finally reunited. Sure enough, the slipper fits perfectly and the stepsisters both plead for forgiveness. Ella graciously forgives her stepmother and leaves with Kit. Lady Tremaine later departs the kingdom with her daughters and the Grand Duke. At their wedding, Kit and Ella are crowned as the new king and queen. The Fairy Godmother narrates that they become the land's most beloved monarchs, ruling with the courage and kindness Ella has promised her mother, and they lived happily ever after. Cast Alex MacQueen as Town Crier Production The 2015 and 1950 Cinderella.

After the success of Tim Burton 's Alice in Wonderland , Disney began developing a new adaptation of Cinderella in May 2010. [1] Director Mark Romanek was initially going to direct the movie, however, he dropped out on January 9, 2013 due to creative differences. On February 1, 2013, Kenneth Branagh (Thor) stepped in as the new director. The screenplay is co-written by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) and Chris Weitz (The Twilight Saga: New Moon) and stars Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett as Lady Tremaine . The role of Cinderella was originally offered to former Harry Potter star, Emma Watson , but she eventually dropped out due to her commitment to another fairy tale project, Beauty and the Beast with Bill Condon directing it. After Watson left, other actresses such as Saiorse Ronan, Alicia Vikander, Gabriella Wilde, Imogen Poots, Bella Heathcote, Margot Robbie and Lily James were all considered for the role. Ultimately, the role was given to Lily James (Downtown Abbey) on April 30, 2013.

On May 8, 2013, it was announced that Game of Thrones star Richard Madden was cast as Prince Charming . In June 2013, Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera joined the film as Anastasia and Drisella . Later that month, Helena Bonham Carter was cast as the Fairy Godmother . On July 8, 2013 it was announced that Stellan Skarsgård was in talks for the role of the Grand Duke . [2] On August 19, 2013, Hayley Atwell revealed that she would be playing Cinderella's biological mother who dies when Cinderella is five years old. [3] Production on the film started in London in September 2013 and post-production began in December 2013. It was released on March 13, 2015. The first teaser trailer was attached to screenings of Maleficent . Videos Cinderella Trailer Debuts! Director Sir Kenneth Branagh Opens Up About the Live-Action Disney Movie! | E! News Cinderella Trailer Debuts! Director Sir Kenneth Branagh Opens Up About the Live-Action Disney Movie!

By Email Cinderella is headed to the big screen...again! Sixty-five years after Walt Disney Pictures released its animated classic, the beloved fairy tale is getting the live-action treatment courtesy of director Sir Kenneth Branagh and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The movie, in theaters March 13, 2015, stars Downton Abbey's Lily James as the titular character. Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett plays her wicked stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and Helena Bonham Carter plays her fairy godmother. Nonso Anozie, Hayley Atwell, Ben Chaplin, Holliday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Richard Madden, Sophie McShera and Stellan Skarsgård round out the cast. Of course, Cinderella posed a unique set of challenges. "It's a very unusual project because anybody sitting down almost certainly knows the story. They've had it read to them or they've seen the film. I think we get to refresh, reactive and recreate Cinderella from the inside out," Branagh tells E! News. "The honoring of the original comes in, I think, as sort of a lightness of touch and a sort of lavishness." "I wanted to take the world of the ball.

Life can be pretty rough sometimes and it's a wonderful thing to be able to invite the world to the ball," Branagh, a five-time Academy Award nominee, continues. "And then, from the inside, we've given it a contemporary feel that is human and humane and strangely enough, not built around the idea that Cinderella's life depends on finding a man or things, like clothes or a title, or just hoping this magic will come along. It's much more about who she is, what she feels about herself, and taking that kind of sort of spiritual cue to make it refreshing in a contemporary way." NEWS: This artist's reimagining of Disney princesses will blow your mind Disney When Branagh was casting the lead role, he was searching for an actress who had both "intelligence" and "passion," but who also had a "strong sense of humor and a sort of beauty shining out from within." "Goodness can seem pious. It can seem righteous. It can seem too good to be true. We needed Cinderella to remain funny, sexy, smart and crucially kind," he tells E! News. "There was talk way back about redefining goodness as a superpower and kindness in the same way.

I think it can be very active and charismatic and compelling, but it needs to be lightly done. This Cinderella, she's not empowered in the sense of being adversarial or self-pitying or victimized. She makes her own choices and she doesn't indulge in her own pain or have any regard for her own hardships. She's generous of spirit, and we needed that in the actress. Lily has great generosity of spirit, which really you can't fake. I think the audience will intuit that. She is good company. She's un-showy, yet she's charismatic. And she wants to enjoy herself! She takes the blows in the movie. There's loss—the loss of loved ones. There's the cruelty and ignorance of other people. She knows love can be fleeting and so she's determined to enjoy it. Underneath all of that comes this sense of fun and this sense of humor. I think she's fun and funny." Casting a "thoroughbred actress" like Blanchett was a major coup. "She's such a top talent that you can't help but have layers of contextual subtlety," Branagh raves of the movie star. "We didn't want the film to be pantomimic.

I think people want that cruelty to come through. They want Cinderella to have a really formidable adversary. But without any kind of appealed sympathy, you get a sense in Cate's performance of a real background, a real history that she brings with her arrival into Cinderella's household. She's not cruel for cruelty's sake, but my God, when she imposes her will, she's terrifying." VIDEO: How to recreate Cinderella's look Blanchett, as one would imagine, looks the part. "She has the most dazzling wardrobe I have seen in many a long day that she carries off with a panache…which is in itself utterly thrilling," Branagh tells E! News, also praising the film's costume designer, Sandy Powell. Between Blanchett's outfits and the set design, he added, "She occupies the space as you would expect, and yet strangely enough, although brilliantly charismatic, she is not larger than life. But my God, she is full of light—albeit a very dark light." Cinderella undergoes a major transformation in the movie, too. In fact, the scene that takes place just before the ball was said to be the late Walt Disney's favorite piece of animation.

As such, Branagh knew that it was critical to match the magic with his live-action version. "Swarovski made absolutely sensational 3D shoes, which was entirely crafted with Sandy Powell's great visionary look. She was trying to find something that had a magical quality, that had this crystal glass sculpted quality, that had this ever colorful light refracting quality, that looked like they could be—as Helena Bonham Carter, the fairy godmother says in the movie, 'really comfortable to wear.' They just look sensational," the British director marvels of the iconic glass slippers. "I've never understood more clearly than in working on this story the importance of shoes to women, and I hope our treatment of this iconic pair bears that out." Branagh says there are "some surprises" in store. However, he also reveals that moviegoers won't be hearing James sing "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" or Bonham Carter sing "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo." "There are no musical numbers inside the body of the film, but there is singing and you will find that songs work their way into the movie ultimately.

We hope to pay a little nod to the original in that way." PHOTOS: Sneak peek from Walt Disney Pictures' Into the Woods Disney Fans of the original can rest easy—some of the beloved animal characters will be included. "I think I would possibly be drummed out of the DGA if I denied the audience watching Cinderella the opportunity to say, 'Gus-Gus!'" the actor-director says with a laugh. "Gus-Gus, I believe, will be making an important appearance. We worked with both real mice, which were actually fantastic, and some CGI mice." Branagh, who also helmed 2011's Thor, can't wait to see how audiences respond to his live-action version of Cinderella. "I feel as though I've not only been afforded a great deal of freedom in this process, but also an incredible amount of support from a company who are, I think, incredibly invigorated and excited about trying to take some creative ownership of these titles that have been part of their DNA for so long," the director tells E! News.

"I think they're being brave, creative, and in my case—I can only speak from my experience—extremely supportive of the filmmakers who are involved." Cinderella is in theaters on March 13, 2015. Brazil E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our US edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Canadian edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our UK edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Australian edition? E! ist überall Dieser Inhalt ist für internationale Besucher verfügbar. Möchtest du ihn in der deutschen Version anschauen? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our German edition? E! est partout Une version adaptée de ce contenu est disponible pour notre public international. Souhaitez-vous voir ça dans notre édition française ? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience.

Would you like to view this in our French edition? Yes! Katy Waldman Katy Waldman is Slate’s words correspondent. So how does one modernize such a bland, regressive narrative for the big screen? The expected answer, given a slew of recent properties that attempt to add sophistication to familiar lightweight source material by going dark— Maleficent , Snow White and the Huntsman , The Dark Knight , Star Trek Into Darkness —is to glamorize or complicate the evil characters while undermining the good ones. In this model, the hero either turns morally ambiguous or serves as the boring foil for a more magnetic adversary. Sensibilities shift from innocent to world-weary. Yet with his live-action retelling of Cinderella, director Kenneth Branagh accomplishes a wonderful bit of spellwork: He manages to de-toxify Disney’s flagship fairy tale without overcorrecting away its prettiness, sincerity, or charm. This Cinderella, which stars Lily James as the ashes-to-sashes heroine and Game of Thrones ’ Richard Madden as her swain, believes in aesthetics without defaulting to Wes Anderson–style irony.

It takes no particular interest in the psychology of Cinderella’s cruel stepsisters, although, in keeping with its overall generous spirit, it does give them a sort of gentle benefit of the doubt, presenting Drisella and Anastasia as harmless figures of fun. Even Cate Blanchett’s widow seems as matter-of-factly bad or deliciously vampy as the plot requires, but not nearly as textured or alive as the good characters. Her motives are predictable: something about how Ella is young and pure; something about wishing to provide for her “beautiful, stupid daughters”; something about suspecting, after her first husband and true love died, that the universe hasn’t given her a fair shake. Conversely, though, the film feels intensely interested in the rich and diverse forms of goodness exhibited by Ella, the prince, the king, and Ella’s parents. Advertisement Another quality Branagh is surprisingly, refreshingly not obsessed with? Beauty. Yes, his movie boasts stunning visuals—its storybook roses, fireworks, and forests shot in softly glowing colors, its palace rooms and farmhouses quilled with quaint detail. And sure, Ella is a creature of flaxen waves and beglittered cleavage.

(Between her and the fairy godmother, whom Helena Bonham Carter plays as a kind of mincing, magical Dolly Parton, the chests in this movie are incredible. Bippity boppity boobs!) But in this version of the story, the prince has fallen for Ella long before he sees her at the ball; he’s attracted to her kindness and willingness to flout convention. “What’s done isn’t the same as what’s right,” she suggests, at which point the prince, pretending to be “Kit the apprentice,” pulls the most enraptured face you will see in a movie theater all year. This Cinderella isn’t a heroine merely because she’s “beautiful inside and out.” Her strengths prove more specific than that. Get Slate in your inbox. In Cinderella, compassion does not come easily; it calls for grit and sacrifice. “Have courage and be kind” is the film’s echoing refrain: Ella’s mother first says it on her deathbed; Ella, who repeats the motto under her breath in times of ill treatment, makes it the guiding principle of her life. Her steadfastness, admirable on its own, should tell us something about the slippery way this movie handles power.

Just as magic lets a mouse become a footman, the right perspective can transfigure obedience into strength. In Cinderella, compassion does not come easily; it calls for grit and sacrifice: When a neighbor arrives to relay the news that Ella’s father has died, the young woman chokes out, with visible effort: “Thank you. That must have been very difficult for you.” Only after he is gone does she collapse against the door. Yet Ella is neither a martyr nor a doormat. Genuinely joyous for much of the film, she loves the lonely, drafty attic to which she’s exiled. Forbidden after the ball from exposing her identity to the prince, she cherishes the memory of the dance. Ella’s superpower is remaining unbroken, a free spirit, under terrible constraints. She lives according to her values and discovers happiness where others would be too unimaginative to look. The Frozen Short Airing Before Cinderella Is a Mess Don't get too excited about revisiting Anna and Elsa, and start getting nervous about Frozen 2. She’s virtuous, too, in the classical or medieval courtly sense, adapting perfectly to the needs of the moment.

When her father dies and the stepmother must dismiss the servants to stave off financial ruin, Ella capably cooks and cleans. When her stepmother refuses to buy her a dress for the prince’s soirée, she fashions her own gown from a family heirloom. At the dance, as a prospective queen, Ella must demonstrate that she can enchant a ballroom full of aristocrats and commoners. Suddenly she is the most graceful, captivating woman on the floor. I’ve no doubt that if Branagh had required her to suit up like Kristen Stewart’s Snow White and lead troops into battle, Ella could pull it off adroitly. But this Cinderella, who, the narrator tells us, “sees things not as they are but as they could be,” has an altogether rarer calling than ingénue or even warrior. It’s a strange role for a fairy tale protagonist and especially for a Disney princess, because it implies an oldness or maturity of soul. (Is that how Branagh and his screenwriter, Chris Weitz, finally tempered the naiveté of his source story?) Ella, alive to the potential in things and people, is an educator.

She leads by example and by explicit instruction; her words fall like sediment through characters’ minds until they are reproduced, slightly altered, in their speech. Not only does Ella instruct the prince in kindness and fairness—the script makes much of his status as “apprentice monarch” and even his name, Kit, evokes a baby badger—but she finds time during her breathless escape from the ball to tell the king how to be a father. (Later, a marvelous, scratchy-voiced Derek Jacobi shows that he has internalized the lesson—that Kit has become his own man, and a good one—by allowing his son to follow his heart.) And of course mothers and fathers (and stepmothers and godmothers) lie at the heart of this film about pedagogy. In a genre that can be pretty callous to moms and dads, Branagh has created a fairy tale movie where both leads have tender, reverberating, centerpiece scenes with a beloved parent. Updating a fairy tale often means excavating the grisly bits left out of kid’s anthologies.

(Revelations that “ fairy tales are not just for children ” are as thickly strewn across the Web as ones that “ comic books are not just for children ,” and you can chant both mantras around a bonfire to summon enraged fans.) But I loved how Cinderella reveled in its Disney-ness. Consider the playful callbacks: Ella twirling around as her dress shimmers magically between pink and blue ( Sleeping Beauty ), Ella asking her father for the first bough that brushes his shoulder on the road, while her stepsisters request lace and parasols (Beauty and the Beast). Alice in Wonderland hovers behind the heroine’s madcap flight from the palace, especially as her pumpkin carriage shrinks with her still inside. At one point Kit spirits Ella away from the party to show her a “secret garden,” replete with rope swing and roses the size of cauliflowers. The grotto, at once an allusion and the perfect semi-sexual backdrop, sums up Cinderella. Sweet. Dreamily romantic. In control of its material but willing to have fun with it. Top Comment Many of the aspects of this movie that the writer lauds were actually also present in the Drew Barrymore version, Ever After. More...

-oxyturn Cinderella trailer 2015 movie: Stars Lily James as Cinderella | Glamour UK Celebrities meeting the Queen (Eddie Redmayne is adorable) By Glamour 39 items "You have to find the actor. It was a long process. I joined Cinderella, and they'd been working for a little while. There had been some screen tests. They'd seen hundreds and hundreds of girls. And Lily came in to read for one of the stepsisters. I remember [the casting director had] sent me a tape, and I was going to grab something, and I heard her. It was literally the voice to start with, because it's that warmth, those colours, that we needed." The cast are busy promoting the movie, and just last night they attended the US premiere in LA. Rex Features 37 items On 20 February 2014, we wrote... Lily James is an ASOS cover star, and in the new issue she talks all about playing a Disney princess in Cinderella.

Piczo for ASOS magazine The British actress, who is perhaps best known for her role on Downton Abbey, opens up about her role as Cinderella: "Playing a Disney princess is the most amazing, unbelievable thing… and on the other, it's completely terrifying. I would say it's a cocktail of every sort of emotion. Princesses are great role models, they teach you about grief loss and have big hearts." Read More Emma Thompson on Branagh-Bonham Carter affair By Hannah Lyons Powell Piczo for ASOS magazine She also talks fashion with ASOS, recalling the time she sat next to Anna Wintour at a fashion show. "I'd had a couple of drinks beforehand so I was pretty relaxed… she was so nice," she said. "She cracked a few jokes and pointed out dresses that she thought I could wear to the Cinderella premiere. Honestly, she was really cool".

Piczo for ASOS magazine Watch The M&S Christmas Campaign in full By Lauren Smith As well as ASOS, Lily also features in US GLAMOUR's March issue and talks about finding her real-life Prince Charming (she's currently dating former Doctor Who star Matt Smith) "As cynical as I can be, there's always a part of me that believes in love and the fairy tale. But what I like about this film is that Prince Charming doesn't just rescue a damsel in distress-it's about two people who make each other better. That's the fairy tale." Piczo for ASOS magazine She also spoke about the glass slipper, telling GLAMOUR US: "My foot was actually CGI'd into the glass slipper. It was made out of Swarovski crystal, and I was always terrified I'd drop it! I have big, ugly feet, so luckily I had a foot double." Read More Cinderella is out in the UK on 27 March 2015. On 4 December 2014, we wrote... We're getting very excited about Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella movie, especially now that we have brand new character posters.

One features the heroine (Lily James) and her prince (Richard Madden)... One of the Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter)... The Evil Stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and the two (not so) ugly stepsisters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera)... Check out the trailer for a glimpse of what's to come. Cinderella hits cinemas on 27 March 2015. On 19 November 2014, we wrote... Fairytale fans rejoice - Disney has released the official trailer for its forthcoming live action version of Cinderella. Directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Downton Abbey 's Lily James as Cinderella, Disney promises that their April 2015 release "brings to life the timeless images from the 1950 animated masterpiece as fully-realized characters in a visually dazzling spectacle for a whole new generation." Warning: the trailer gives quite a lot away, BUT having said that, we do know the story pretty well.

Director, Kenneth Branagh said: "Being able to direct Disney's Cinderella in the 21st century means that you're in the driving seat for presenting a myth that has endured across the ages because it connects with human beings at a profound level. We identify with Cinderella, we love her. Cinderella is certainly placed in challenging circumstances, but she chooses not to be the damsel in distress and we see her make strong, positive choices in that regard." The movie also stars Game of Thrones hottie Richard Madden, Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter . We also have Sophie McShera, and Holliday Grainger who both play Cinders' stepsisters. That's what we call a stellar cast. Check out the trailer for a glimpse of what's to come. Cinderella hits cinemas on 27 March 2015. Earlier, we wrote... From Lady Rose MacClare to Cinderella: Downton Abbey star Lily James will go to the ball when she appears as Disney's new Cinderella in Kenneth Branagh's forthcoming live-action movie. James was apparently chosen for the role after Emma Watson turned it down. Cate Blanchett will appear as the evil stepmother.

Speaking of her appointment, director Branagh said: "It is impossible to think of Cinderella without thinking of Disney and the timeless images we've all grown up watching. Those classic moments are irresistible to a filmmaker. "With Lily James we have found our perfect Cinderella. She combines knockout beauty with intelligence, wit, fun and physical grace." ADVERTISEMENT Game Of Thrones star Richard Madden will star as Prince Charming and Helena Bonham Carter will be the fairy godmother. Cinderella is set to hit the big screen in March 2015.

GLAMOUR EXCLUSIVE: Lily James picks her Disney Princesses By Charlotte Duck Lily James on her Cinderella audition & who she gets on best with in Downton By Charlotte Duck Lily James: A Few Surprising Things… By Charlotte Duck Kenneth Branagh interview Kenneth Branagh: 'Cinderella made me weep' Interview Cinderella: Richard Madden (left), Lily James (centre) and director Kenneth Branagh (right) at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills Credit: Casey Curry Telegraph Film 27 March 2015 • 7:41am Kenneth Branagh on reinventing Cinderella, lifting ideas from Buckingham Palace, and why he'd tell his younger self to 'lighten up'. By John Hiscock If any of the Royal Family see the new live action version of Cinderella they may be surprised to see some similarities between the prince's palace on screen and their own Buckingham Palace. Cinderella's director Kenneth Branagh confesses that when he visited the palace to receive his knighthood in 2012 he studied the decor and passed the ideas on to the film's Oscar-winning production designer Dante Ferretti. "It was a very nice thing to go to the Palace and get to see it.

I was able to share some of my research with Dante and we have the wide white corridors that are in Buckingham Palace in our film palace," he says with a laugh. Prince Charming (Richard Madden) and Cinderella (Lily James) in Disney's 'Cinderella' Credit: Disney Disney's Studio's rebooting of the classic fairy tale, last filmed 65 years ago, is yet another change of pace for 54-year -old Branagh, who is one of the few actors to have received five Oscar nominations in five separate categories: Actor (Henry V), Supporting Actor (My Week with Marilyn), Director (Henry V), Adapted Screenplay (Hamlet) and Short Film (Swan Song). Although he is best known for his Shakespearean work both on stage and in film, he has shown himself to be equally adept at directing thrillers (Dead Again) horror (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), comedy (Peter's Friends) and superheroes (Thor). But a fairy tale? Particularly one that is so well-known? "The tale has been in various cultures for the last two and a half thousand years and is very flexible and has had very many adaptations," he agrees.

"It was important for us to reinvent Cinderella and make her a more pro-active, more 21st Century character. It was important for us to reinvent Cinderella and make her a more pro-active, more 21st Century character "For me it's not a question of better; it's a question of different. The animated classic from Disney is a quite magical piece of moviemaking but it was made in 1950 and I felt there would be a vast number of people who would never have seen it or seen it in the context of the life we lead and so there would be room for another one. " The cinema-going public appears to agree with him: in its first two weeks of release, Cinderella has taken almost $260 million at the worldwide box office. We are talking in a Beverly Hills hotel the morning after the film's Los Angeles premiere. Happily, the Kenneth Branagh of today is far more easy-going and relaxed than he was when his near-obsessive drive propelled him to virtually non-stop work on the British stage, on television and in films.

In the late Eighties and early Nineties he and Emma Thompson - or Ken and Em as they were known - were Britain's premier theatrical couple and he was writing, directing and acting all at the same time, constantly juggling projects. Together they were a dynamic couple who starred in the television drama Fortunes Of War; appeared on the American stage in King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; co-starred in the films Dead Again and Peter’s Friends and appeared in Look Back In Anger both on stage and television. Cinderella trailer Play! 02:26 Their joint projects ended abruptly when he became romantically involved with Helena Bonham Carter, and he and Thompson divorced in October 1995. He split from Bonham Carter in 1999 and in 2003 he quietly married art director Lindsay Brunnock, whom he met on the set of the Channel 4 drama Shackleton. Any animosity has long dissipated; Branagh and Thomson, he says, are "on good terms" and he cast Bonham Carter in Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother. Life for the Belfast-born Branagh is lived at a much less-hectic pace nowadays with a lot more humour than in the past.

Looking back, if he could give advice to his younger self, he says he would tell him: "Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more and don't get so worked up about things." Raised in a working class home in Belfast he moved to England with his family when he was 10 and as a teenager began his love affair with the theatre and movies. He studied at Rada, where he quickly lost his Northern Irish accent. "We used to have to do something called a standard English test to prove that we could speak in newsreader English, " he recalls. "I would say my voice is actor-neutral." He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at age 23, opening its 1984 season at Stratford as the youngest Henry V in the troupe's history. He acted in several television dramas and made his movie debut with Henry V which earned him international recognition and Oscar nominations for both directing and acting.

The script was very, very affecting and I wept a lot when I read it Alternating between Hollywood, the UK and movies, the stage and television, as well as his Shakespearean work his diverse acting roles have included the British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton; the vainglorious Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets; Franklin D. Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger and Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn. After co-starring with Tom Cruise in Valkyrie he starred in and executive-produced the adaptations of the best-selling Wallender crime novels for the BBC. Lily James and Richard Madden in Cinderella Credit: Capital Pictures/CAP/NFS Before Cinderella, his most recent directing job was the well-received thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, in which he also co-starred. He was drawn to try his hand at a fairy tale when he read the Cinderella script by screenwriter Chris Weitz, who also wrote About a Boy. "It's a classic piece of storytelling where the central character goes on a journey we can really identify with," he says.

"The script was very, very affecting and I wept a lot when I read it." For his Cinderella, Branagh cast 25-year-old Lily James, best known as the trouble-making Lady Rose MacClare in Downton Abbey, who, he says, has both the kindness and courage of the title character. "Her voice is warm and musical and she has a strong sense of humour which is very important, plus she's a beautiful girl. I think that she has a lovely heart and that comes through in her work." Cate Blanchett plays Cinderella's wicked stepmother Credit: Disney He cast Ben Chaplin and Haley Atwell as her mother and father, Cate Blanchett as her stepmother, Richard Madden as the Prince and Derek Jacobi, an old friend and colleague, as the King. "I saw Derek Jacobi play Hamlet when I was 17 and he directed me as Hamlet when I was 27 and I directed him as Claudius in Hamlet when I was 35 and I'm hoping we meet again in some other production of Hamlet before we both toddle off," he laughs. "He's a wonderful actor and a great example.

My friendship with him, professional and personal, has been an enormously big part of my life." For his next project Kenneth Branagh wants to combine his love for Shakespeare with his newly-found affection for fairy tales. "Until now I hadn't thought about making a fairytale as a movie but now I realise I am being drawn to them. So a Shakespeare play that I have been interested in working on for a long time is The Winter's Tale which I see very much as a fairytale. "Later on this year we will do The Winter's Tale on stage in London and in terms of films, it's always in my thoughts." Star Rating 3 Telegraph Star Rating Video Competition 28 Apr 2016 News 27 Apr 2016

Question: Who is the director of the 2015 film Cinderella?
Answer: KENNETH BRANAGH